A case against Mardi Gras
Having lived over eight years in South Louisiana I am somewhat familiar with the hype around Mardi Gras in Catholic and non-Catholic circles. I have never been part of any of the floats or have gone to the balls, but I have gone to the parades to catch some beads and plastic cups or Frisbees and they were “okay.” We used to go to the “family-oriented” parades, but they turned out to be everything but fit for the family. My coworkers and I limited ourselves to eating the King Cake in the office and hoping we didn’t get “Baby Jesus” so we wouldn’t have to buy the cake next time. That has been the extent of my participation in the Mardi Gras festivities.
I would say that most of my Catholic friends from Louisiana, without exception, participate actively in the Mardi Gras festivities since January 6th (technically, Mardis Gras in French refers to Fat Tuesday only, but the term is also applied to the days and festivities that precede this day). In all honesty, I don’t understand it. I don’t understand the concept of participating in excesses and indulgences before the fasting and penance that characterizes the sacred season of Lent. I don’t understand it and I don’t agree with it. I’m going to go as far to quote the words of my dear boyfriend regarding Mardi Gras: “Mardi Gras is a mockery of the Catholic faith.” I agree. It is a mockery of the Lenten season and of its purpose and sacredness.
My friends make it sound as if Mardi Gras is intrinsically Catholic and although there may be some truth to the fact that the feast is related to Catholicism by association, the festivities are everything but Christian in nature. In fact, history places the origin of carnival festivities back to pagan spring fertility rites during pre-Christian times.
Lent is supposed to be a time to grow in virtue through penance, sacrifice, and mortification. The purpose of the Lenten season is to prepare our bodies and souls to grow closer to God so we can accompany Him faithfully during his Passion, death, and then His glorious resurrection. Although Lent in itself is a time for preparation for the Triduum, preparation is also required prior to entering the Lenten season, because we need to get our minds and bodies in the mode of receiving God (just as in Advent).
So, what is the purpose of Mardi Gras? What is the goal of excessive eating, drinking, and partying right before Ash Wednesday? Is it an attempt to forget about God right before “reality” hits during Lent? How do the carnival festivities help us in growing closer to God in preparation for Lent? How does Mardi Gras aid our spiritual and physical preparation to receive God?
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I think excess is ok, but only in moderation. ;) Seriously though, a little indulgence before the lenten fast is ok (think of Cheesefare Sunday among our Eastern brethren). However, the all out moral degradation which Mardi Gras has become is indeed a kind of mockery of the faith. Its too bad. Now excuse me while I go have another peanut-butter chocolate brownie…
I had to laugh that this entry got placed right next to this one (postmodernpapist.blogspot.com/2008/02/merry-mardi-gras.html) in my RSS reader.
On a slightly unrelated note, in doing some research for a school paper a few years ago I discovered that while it is sinful to ignore the fast in Lent and other penitential periods, traditionally it was considered equally sinful to fast on Easter, Christmas and other major feasts (fasting being offensive to the celebratory nature of those days; they are called feasts for a reason, after all). Even fasting on Sundays was considerably frowned upon. Obviously this doesn’t apply to Mardi Gras, but it is helpful to remember that even in the Middle Ages the Church wasn’t against a good party.
Hasn’t Vox Nova made similar posts against the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas?
I guess I’m not as Jansenistic as I thought, since this harping on festive occasions really annoys me.
“In fact, history places the origin of carnival festivities back to pagan spring fertility rites during pre-Christian times.”
Gasp! Pagans who converted to Christianity continued their fun? Obviously this must be stopped. (Don’t Fundies say the same thing about Easter’s “pagan roots”?)
The festival is not the last gasp of the damned as they try to enliven their doomed and stunted souls. It is a forerunner of the joyous wedding banquet in Heaven.
Nobody will defend the flashing and the binge-drinking, so the more obvious abuses of Mardi Gras are an easy target. But the way some people write, you’d think only suffering, and not revelry, had been redeemed.
I for one would have to agree with your post. As a Catholic living in South Louisiana, it always disturbs me to know that millions are willing to stand in the cold and the rain to catch plastic beads, but churches are half empty on cold rainy Sundays.
The debauchery and vile that Mardi Gras has become should offend anyone who is striving towards holiness.
Hasn’t Vox Nova made similar posts against the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas?
I guess I’m not as Jansenistic as I thought, since this harping on festive occasions really annoys me.
“Similar”? No. The posts to which you were refer were written by different contributors to this blog and took up very different issues. Besides, none of us would ever group together Mardi Gras, Fourth of July and Christmas as if these occassions were of the same kind.
But the way some people write, you’d think only suffering, and not revelry, had been redeemed.
My sinful side prefers revelry. My salvation demands suffering. There’s no contest here. Necessity over preference…just ask St. Francis de Sales.
Kevin,
How does Mardi Gras aid our spiritual and physical preparation to receive God?
From New Advent:
“In this name shrovetide the religious idea is uppermost, and the same is true of the German Fastnacht (the eve of the fast). It is intelligible enough that before a long period of deprivations human nature should allow itself some exceptional licence in the way of frolic and good cheer. No appeal to vague and often inconsistent traces of earlier pagan customs seems needed to explain the general observance of a carnival celebration.”
I think Mardi Gras, observed correctly, helps humans to practice mortification and penance easier than if we were just thrown into it. It is human nature to eat more and be merry before you enter a period where fasting and mortification are frequent and fun things and pleasantries are not.
So what does Mardis Gras do in terms of our spiritual and physical preparation to receive God? I think it allows us to grow closer to God because we’ve already satisfied our passions and desires (in a non-sinful manner) for things of this world.
I’m not advocating getting drunk, being promiscuous, glutony, sloth, lust, or anything like that, but merely treating Mardis Gras as a psuedo feast day.
It is a healthy desire to want to indulge (not over-indulge) in something before it leaves you. You want one more hug before your loved one ships off to Iraq…You want to drive your old car one last time before you sell it…you want to eat sugar and eggs before you give them up for Lent. You see my point?
I agree that Mardis Gras has become (or perhaps has remained) an incredibly sinful occassion, but that doesn’t mean it’s all bad. The Catholic Church has a long tradition of taking pagan holidays and practices and Christianizing them…perhaps we haven’t come full circle with Mardis Gras like we have Christmas.
I’m not advocating getting drunk, being promiscuous, glutony, sloth, lust, or anything like that, but merely treating Mardis Gras as a psuedo feast day.
Sure, take all the fun out of it. ;-)
On a more serious note, I figured it was more the cold weather that kept breasts shielded around here. Fashion dictates ended up proving me wrong a half dozen years ago. Marti Gra and St. Patrick’s Day for that matter may be celebrated in bars, but it isn’t really a community celebration. Depending on the area, you may have a special St. Patrick service. It’s kind of like Halloween. In so much as people participate, they do the secular celebration, even if parts are held in a Church.
BTW, I have nothing against bars in principle. I just don’t frequent them. That, and there are very few places with neighborhood bars anymore. It would be one thing to be with my neighbors and commune over a beer. It is another to go to a place with just a bunch of strangers and PAARRRRTAAAYYY!
As A Louisana person I will say I totally disagree.
I have made comments on my blog that the great thing about the old Calender and liturgy were that we had three Sundays that would sort of prepared us for Lent. These preceded it. It was sort of a pre Lent. I always thought the feasting and Fun and then Ash Wednesday was always so abrubt.
However I find most MArdi Gras parades to be family friendly. THe parades in Metarie, In Kenner,. In Lafayette, In lake Charles, In Shreveport, In Houma, In Mamou are oftenvery fun.
When large groups of people come together there shall be “excess”.
However even the NEe Orleans parades are not too bad. Yeah if ones goes to the Quarter and Canal it is wild.
But going after Mass On Sunday and tailgaiting in the neutal Ground and watching the parades on St Charles was always a cherished memory to me. That is where the families often hung. THere was partying but it was done in the best tradition of it
“How does Mardi Gras aid our spiritual and physical preparation to receive God?”
The enjoyment of the good things God has given us is a way of giving glory to Him. “My cup runneth over…”
We also can thank God for good times as practice for thanking Him during bad times.
Kevin:
I have no problem with enjoying an especially good meal and a fine bottle of wine on the day before Lent starts, or if you plan on giving up chocolate or Starbucks over lent having an extra Starbucks or an extra candy bar today, or attending a “family friendly parade”. There is a big difference between that and going out and deliberately getting drunk as a skunk, throwing beads to girls so that they expose themselves and fornicating.
In doing the latter we as Catholics are living up to old Protestant prejudices – “Those Catholics they go out and sin, sin, sin, because tomorrow they go into that little box and some man will say everything is forgiven.” The sin of presumption is one of the worse we can commit.
A hunter in the desert saw Abba Anthony enjoying himself with the brethren and he was shocked. Wanting to show him that it was necessary sometimes to meet the needs of the brethren, the old man said to him, “Put an arrow in your bow and shoot it.” So, he did. The old man said, “Shoot another,” and he did so. Then the old man said, “Shoot yet again,” and the hunter replied “If I bend my bow so much I will break it.” Then the old man said to him, “It is the same with the work of God. If we stretch the brethren beyond measure they will soon break. Sometimes it is necessary to come down to meet their needs.” When he heard these words the hunter was pierced by compunction and, greatly edified by the old man, he went away. As for the brethren, they went home strengthened.
Anthony of the Desert, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers
We can’t be all rigor all the time. A Christianity that demands only suffering and asceticism (think of the Waldensians, Franciscan Spirituals and Jansenists) is Christianity for angels. Christianity for human beings has always balanced fasting with festivity. The fact that people use Marti Gras as an excuse to sin only shows that we, as a culture, don’t know how to be truly festive.
I don’t think there anything inherently wrong with the feastival of Mardis Gras. However, excess in anything is sinful. The excesses associated with it are driven by secular marketing. Christians simply fall prey to the temptation.
I don’t see any issue in having a few drinks and eating a bit more then normal. However I would like to see the festival or “cause” of it to focus more on a religious celebration such as Candlemass. But that of course doesn’t happen. It’s a missed opportunity IMO.
If you actually do ever research the history of Mardi Gras you will learn that Mardi Gras is not actually rooted in pagan spring fertility rites. The purpose of Mardi Gras never was fertility and never had any attachment to a pagan holiday other than it might have occurred at about a similar time of the year. Mardi Gras is to prepare for Lent. However preparation comes in different forms and sizes. A long long time ago, like before refrigerators and ice makers and most modern forms of food preservation, the only way to ‘put away the meat’ (the literal meaning of the word ‘carnival’) was to eat it. The way people prepared for Lent was not necessarily spent in prayer as it was spent in using the rich foods that they would not eat during the season of lent. Things like eggs, sugar, and meat were on the top of the list to use on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.
If a person were to ever try and use all their eggs, sugar, and meat one day, the only possible means to do such a things is to throw a party and eat a little more than normal; in other words, have a feast or more specifically a festival. Festivals (or feasts) are a rich christian tradition. We have feasts of saints every day on the calendar. If you have a particular devotion to a saint on his or her feast day what better way to celebrate than to host a festival and perhaps encourage others to devote themselves to Christ through a particular saint. Two most common festivals for saints that sometimes turn into drunken debauchery are Saint Patrick’s Day and Saint Joseph’s Day.
But we should not poo-poo a holiday because of a small percentage of foolish people. There is certainly a way to celebrate and participate in a festival without losing one’s self and forgetting about God. Many many many families in Louisiana celebrate Mardi Gras in a way that is family friendly, safe, and fun and these families far out way the foolishness seen in the French Quarter.
Lastly celebrating something with food, drink, music, funny clothes, and watching really long processions (parades) fits nicely in the Catholic tradition.
I posted this last year about the holiday: http://aliveandyoung.blogspot.com/2007/02/new-orleans-fun-or-blatant-debauchery.html
“There is a big difference between that and going out and deliberately getting drunk as a skunk, throwing beads to girls so that they expose themselves and fornicating.”
And of course nobody is defending the latter, which is why I said it was an easy target. Why should we make the worst people define an event?
I must laugh at the poster who stated that Mardi Gras was a foreshadowing of the joy at the Heavenly Marriage Supper. I honestly can’t see ANYTHING up in Heaven resembling what happens in New Orleans on a yearly basis sir. Mardi Gras revelry does nothing but give Protestants their anti-Catholic fuel and no practicing Catholic should dare partake in this ungodly and evil event. It is nothing but Sodom and Gomorroah on steroids…and a slap to our ancient faith.
I’m a practicing Catholic and I am against Mardi Gras. It is Satanic and hedonistic.
I think it is an abomination! I have my 3rd grader asking me this morning if he can wear his beads to school (tomorrow is Ash Wednesday). He is in a Catholic School in Northern Virginia. Sorry, people are getting cooked slowly, and have decided to let the culture control us. Since the culture is the media, what might that say? They should call it Baal Tuesday.
And sorry Paul Cat, it does have pagan roots. I do not know of any Christian rite that includes the sacrifice of an ox.
Brother Matthew Augustine OP, get real!
As far as celebrating your blessing, we need to be doing this all the time. I dare say there will very little lent practiced by the mardi gras crowd.